Jen and Francis Rainin celebrate their recent wedding at San Francisco's City Hall.

Calif. Supreme Court Again Refuses to Halt Same-Sex Marriages

By Jase Peeples

Originally published on Advocate.com July 24 2013 4:13 PM ET

The California Supreme Court once again rejected a request from the supporters of Proposition 8 to halt same-sex weddings in the Golden State on Tuesday, reports the Los Angeles Times. County clerks throughout California will continue to issue marriage licenses to eligible same-sex couples.

The denied request came from Ernest J. Dronenburg, Jr., a Republican county clerk in San Diego, who filed a petition with the state’s highest last week begging it to halt same-sex marriages because marriage equality was causing him to “suffer irreparable injury and damage.” Dronenburg argued that the California Supreme Court should order marriage equality to be placed on hold while it considered another petition from the official proponents of California's unconstitutional Prop. 8, which claimed that that the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark ruling in favor of marriage equality on June 26 should apply only to the two counties where the four plaintiffs reside — Los Angeles and Alameda.

Dronenburg’s attempt to stall implementation of the high court's ruling re-establishing marriage equality in California follows on the heels of a previously rejected request from the supporters of Prop. 8 to halt same-sex weddings in the Golden State earlier this month.

Attorney General Kamala Harris predicted the state Supreme Court’s rejection of Dronenburg’s petition shortly after it was filed. “The filing offers no new arguments that could deny same-sex couples their constitutionally protected civil rights,” she said in a statement issued the same day as Dronenburg's petition. “The federal injunction is still in effect, and it requires all 58 counties to perform same-sex marriages. No exceptions.”